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Beautiful products Ladies! I can't wait to see how you use 'em. I was going to suggest Dhrma but I see you've already discovered them. Be sure to read their tutorials. DD and I snow dyed bamboo skarves last winter with OK results. We used Cheap dye from Walmart. I don't recommend it. They colors came out pastel and the texture was weak. I LOVE the hand of the bamboo tho... it's very fine, slightly drapey and creamy smooth.

Thanks Chocake2! I looked at the dyes at Walmart and really thought about it, but I'm glad now I didn't buy them. I will be in the "big city" by the first of April, so I can wait until then.

Donna--Hard water usually has some form of iron in it. Believe it or not, one of the dyes used for mixing paint colors is iron oxide so you may be well onto something when you wonder whether it is causing interference.

Agnes, thanks for jumping in about the hard water and iron possibility. I haven't noticed anything specific in the resulting "color" of the fabric. My problem seems to be more the fabric not accepting the dye fully. I have gone to cooling the water down before I add the dye and hope this last batch shows improvement with that. But I am still wondering if even wetting the fabric with the well-water could effect the fabric's absorption of the dye. (For that reason, I even used the bottled water to wet the fabric in this batch, so will not have that answer yet. I may have to try Marge's method with a small piece along side a larger piece in the same batch...to find out.)

Although the Dylon dyes do simplify the process with having the soda-ash pre-mixed in with the dye, there is a potential problem there in case the soda ash and dye are not thoroughly mixed before you measure the power mix into your salt-water. If the proportions aren't right, what happens??? At some point here, I am sure I will be switching to Procion MX dyes for this. There is an added benefit too. It is the added soda-ash in the mix that weakens the dye mixture over time. With the Procion MX dyes you mix them separately and the soda-ash is added just before the actual dye process...in whatever quantity you need. You could store any left over dye indefinitely...and just add the soda-ash when ready for your next batch. I also have heard of liquid Procion MX dyes. I like the idea of not having to mix the powdered dye!

No new pictures of my latest batch as they still had too much snow on them this afternoon when I checked. Will finish them up tomorrow and have a feeling I have a lot to learn as to how much black you add to change colors. I put 2 T of Tulip Red (twice the amount I usually use per batch) and then added just 1 tsp of the Velvet Black trying to get a burgandy. I don't think it is going to make it.

Donna B brought a gorgeous piece she had dyed by using Dark Brown and the Violet. I was all set to get that combo going this afternoon but both trays were already being used. Will be gone a couple days so sure hope there is still some snow when we get home.

I too am looking into the Procion MX dyes also. There is so much to learn.

Thanks all for the comments on the pictures I posted earlier. I have an idea of how I will use these pieces - just need to work on it a bit more.

The fabrics y'all are creating here are just beautiful! Makes me wish we lived somewhere that gets snow. Do you suppose the process would work with ice?

You could try it with crushed ice...something like "sno-cone" ice. No guarantees, but it might be worth a try. You need to pile the snow on top of the fabric about 4 to 7 inches high, so it needs to compact somewhat to hold the shape. Then you pour the dye over the snow/ice and let it filter through to dye the fabric underneath and drain into a tray under that. If you look back at the pictures, both Patti and Marge have posted great pictures of the process.

Since I live in snow country , I think I will settle for doing this when snow is available. I will still have snow within 20 miles of my house for another 2 months, and DH has agreed to make snow runs every now and then for me. How great is that!!!

I spent the morning experimenting. Some with snow, some with not. Some, what to do with the left over mixed dye? Ah, just stuff some fabric in it and see what happens. What if I twist and dunk and submerge most of the fabric, then wait at least half an hour, then pour the other left over color in? Couple hours later I start rinsing. Well, the snow is almost gone already, what if I rinse those. I didn't use a lot of snow. The multiple rinses with warm water used most of what was in the hot water tank. Now washing all of them with synthrapol. Wash water should be hotter, so I may have to wait and wash them again. Well see how color fast they are with the one wash.

So far what do I think I like the best? a couple inches of left over dye in the jar. Scrunch left over fabric into it, taking up more space than the jar, and letting some of the dye wick up. 1-2 hours later. I am getting excited! I'll post in a couple hours.

I did this one piece as an experiment last summer (2012) using Set-a-color Transparent fabric paints (DharmaTrading.com). I used both blue and green fabric paint and leaves from a sumac tree plus course pickling salt scattered around the fabric. I plan to do more of this this summer as the weather warms and the snow is no longer available.

I love the sun dyed fabric. That is absolutely gorgeous. I think I could do these but the snow dying could be a real problem for me. I tend not to get enough snow at any one time to do anything like this.

I love the sun dyed fabric. That is absolutely gorgeous. I think I could do these but the snow dying could be a real problem for me. I tend not to get enough snow at any one time to do anything like this.

Thanks Nana,

Go to this blogsite: http://tamarackshack.blogspot.com/2011/07/sun-dyeing.html

She did hers with a dye mixed with soy-milk (rather than fabric paint), but she also used different kinds of resists like pretzels, rice, buttons, just scrunching up the fabric...that I hadn't thought of. She has really good pictures of each step in the process! I am looking forward to try some of her ideas and more this summer.

I had some surprises too. I used terracotta brown, sunflower yellow, and jeans blue of the dylon dyes.

First my snow dyed fabric. The one on the right, I scrunched 1/3 of the fabric, put on snow and the brown dye, then scrunched another 1/3 and added blue, then more snow and scrunched that last third and put on the yellow snow. There was still some snow on the blue, and it probably would not have has so much white had I not been so impatient. The piece on the left I used a tightly twisted coil of fabric, covering it with snow, and then the yellow dye. Then added some blue in a circle. There was not a lot of snow, maybe a couple inches so it melted fast.

now the layered and twisted fabrics in a jar with no snow. I stuffed fabric in the jar with a little yellow left, filling up to the level of dye. Then shoved in some more and spooned on some blue. stuffed the rest of the fabric, which did not fit and spooned on and into the jar some brown. On the right I tightly coiled some fabric, and put it into the jar with brown. some of the fabric remained above the dye. May 1/2 hour later, dumped in the left over blue, immersing all the fabric. Let both sit 1-2 hours, then rinsed.